Create successful ePaper yourself
Turn your PDF publications into a flip-book with our unique Google optimized e-Paper software.
FOOD & HOME<br />
home grown chef<br />
The Cheese<br />
Apprentice<br />
Home Grown Chef<br />
written by Thor Erickson<br />
A FEW YEARS BACK, I had a job<br />
as the chef at a restaurant in Bend.<br />
About a week after I started, I was<br />
preparing for dinner service when<br />
a man walked through the back<br />
door. He was wearing white rubber<br />
boots and carried a small ice chest.<br />
With purpose, he headed straight<br />
for the walk-in refrigerator. About<br />
twenty minutes passed and he was<br />
still in there, amid the bustle of<br />
line-cooks going in and out of the<br />
fridge. When he finally emerged, I<br />
introduced myself and asked him<br />
what he was doing. His name was Pierre and he was one of our<br />
cheese suppliers, dropping off an order. “Why were you in there<br />
for so long?” I asked. “I was looking at all of your other cheese,”<br />
he said, and walked out the door. Over the next few months, I<br />
got to know Pierre. He was an American with Franco-Belgian lineage<br />
and a “strictly business” demeanor. He made wonderful goat<br />
cheese. I found myself using his cheese in many ways—it fueled<br />
my creativity. I started to flavor his chèvre with applewood smoke.<br />
Pierre was always curious how we used his cheese, but I was worried<br />
that he may not approve of my latest effort.<br />
One day he caught me red-handed. I was pulling the chèvre<br />
from the smoker. I opened one of the cheesecloth-wrapped cylinders<br />
of smoked cheese and gave him a sample. He nodded and<br />
walked away without a word. A day later, he called me. “That<br />
smoked cheese was fantastic,” he said, with an unusually upbeat<br />
tone. “You must show me how to do that.” I told Pierre that if he<br />
taught me to make goat cheese, I would show him how to smoke<br />
it. A few months later, I was an apprentice cheesemaker in the<br />
morning, and running a busy kitchen at night. Through that apprenticeship,<br />
Pierre and I developed “Thor’s Special Smoked”<br />
chèvre. This dressing is inspired by that experience.<br />
Rob Kerr<br />
Heidi Weiss-Hoffman<br />
Smoked Bleu Cheese Dressing<br />
<strong>1859</strong>’s Home Grown Chef Thor Erickson<br />
2 ounces Rogue Creamery smokey blue cheese, crumbled<br />
¼ cup buttermilk<br />
¼ cup sour cream<br />
¼ cup mayonnaise<br />
Juice of ¼ lemon, or to taste<br />
Coarse salt and freshly ground black pepper<br />
In a small bowl, stir to combine all ingredients. Pour over salad or roasted<br />
vegetables, or use as a dip. Keep leftovers refrigerated for up to one week.<br />
108 <strong>1859</strong> OREGON’S MAGAZINE MARCH | APRIL <strong>2016</strong><br />
MORE ONLINE Video: How to make the perfect baguette <strong>1859</strong>magazine.com/homegrownchef
Change language